Post by stokiedj on May 27, 2012 10:49:16 GMT

Made me laugh when he came on, first thing he did was got totally outpaced for a ball in midfield which he was favourite to win, it was painful to watch. Dont know whats worse, seeing barry for england or delap for stoke..

Post by echetus on May 27, 2012 10:57:53 GMT

I know man. Its like deja vu all over again! as Yogi Berra would say. Utterly laughable that we are pinning our hopes on a player who is very average for international football. Spain are waiting on David Villa and England are waiting on... Gareth Barry. He is an option, a squad player, he is NOT a game changer.

I actually forgot we were playing last night. I presume Carroll was utterly wank?

He did well enough for the first 10-30 minutes, like the whole England team. Seemed to be causing problems for the Norwegian defence, provided another option. Downing of all people whipped in a great cross and Carroll should have scored but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. However he had a relatively simple pass to set up Young for the second goal but he miss-hit the pass quite poorly and the chance was gone. The midfield then took it upon themselves to shoot on sight rather than use Carroll and he became pretty anonymous. He also gave away a corner with a horrific pass. The Norwegian defence was there for the taking and hardly any England players were worth more than 7 out of 10 so he didn't stand out as having a good game or a bad game particularly. Captain Gerrard did a ludicrous lunging challenge (in the opposition half naturally) that saw the Norwegian lad hobbling off so if he does that in the summer look forward to England playing with ten men.

The second half was dire beyond belief, can't remember a single decent chance we created and as I said the Norway defence was really poor. To be fair half of them probably won't get a game in the tournament and you can only beat whats in front of you, so it isn't time to abandon all hope.

One player who looked good was Ashley Young, the Ox had a bit of something about him but it was hardly Owen versus Argentina. In conclusion, 6 out of 10 all round and a lot more is needed.

Post by Jamo on the wing on May 27, 2012 11:36:51 GMT

I was talking to my mate about this last night and if we play 4-3-3 with a central midfield of Lampard, Parker and Gerrard that would negate the Lampard/Gerrard who sits, who goes dilemma as Parker would do the disciplined role.

Then play two of the many wide players we have either side of Carroll then Rooney.

Post by nickburd on May 27, 2012 11:40:38 GMT

I was talking to my mate about this last night and if we play 4-3-3 with a central midfield of Lampard, Parker and Gerrard that would negate the Lampard/Gerrard who sits, who goes dilemma as Parker would do the disciplined role.

Then play two of the many wide players we have either side of Carroll then Rooney.

In an ideal world that would be good, but I can't see Hodgson employing anything other than a rigid 4-4-2

Post by Jamo on the wing on May 27, 2012 11:41:30 GMT

I was talking to my mate about this last night and if we play 4-3-3 with a central midfield of Lampard, Parker and Gerrard that would negate the Lampard/Gerrard who sits, who goes dilemma as Parker would do the disciplined role.

Then play two of the many wide players we have either side of Carroll then Rooney.

In an ideal world that would be good, but I can't see Hodgson employing anything other than a rigid 4-4-2

No it won't happen, mate but as with Stoke I think it best suits the players available.

Post by march4 on May 27, 2012 12:14:11 GMT

I was talking to my mate about this last night and if we play 4-3-3 with a central midfield of Lampard, Parker and Gerrard that would negate the Lampard/Gerrard who sits, who goes dilemma as Parker would do the disciplined role.

Then play two of the many wide players we have either side of Carroll then Rooney.

In an ideal world that would be good, but I can't see Hodgson employing anything other than a rigid 4-4-2

We played 4-4-1-1 quite clearly and it was mentioned repeatedly by the commentators.

Post by nickburd on May 27, 2012 12:40:19 GMT

Yes I saw that, but my point is that I can't see Hodgson playing anything other than 2 banks of 4

I've no problem with that.

English footballers are not the brightest and would struugle with any new concepts.

Roy will play for clean sheets and hope to snatch the odd goal.

After the world cup though I thought thats how we should be playing anyway. We simply haven't got the technical ability or mindset to outplay teams like Germany, Spain, Holland, France etc. We showed what we're good at when we played Spain in the friendly and won.

Post by sportsman on May 27, 2012 12:53:15 GMT

How the hell was Carroll best player on the pitch? Missed a sitter from 4 yards out with his head. Just because he held it up a few times doesn't mean he's the best on the pitch. If it does then yes we are in the shit.

Walters holds it up, but a striker is judged on his finishing. He couldn't finish a wank.

Post by march4 on May 27, 2012 12:53:26 GMT

English footballers are not the brightest and would struugle with any new concepts.

Roy will play for clean sheets and hope to snatch the odd goal.

After the world cup though I thought thats how we should be playing anyway. We simply haven't got the technical ability or mindset to outplay teams like Germany, Spain, Holland, France etc. We showed what we're good at when we played Spain in the friendly and won.

As our players are inferior, we need to take a leaf from the book used by Denmark and Greece. You can win this tournament by keeping it tight in a rigid 4-4-1-1 and rely on setpieces.

The one thing those teams had that we don't is an indominatable team spirit.

Post by Martyn Grey on May 27, 2012 14:01:42 GMT

We effectively fielded the England B team last night and managed to get a win against a team who although aren't world class, are certainly hard to beat (as been proved in the past). That's the positives. The team were very poor though and a lot of work is needed! Nobody really shone in my opinion apart from Young.